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Police video shows officer talking to Latrice Maze on day of her alleged murder

Family and friends of Latrice Maze wipe their eyes during testimony in the prelim for Jahleel Hoskins, charged with the murder of Maze on Wednesday, May 22 at the Kent County Courthouse. Police believe the Grand Rapids mother of five was killed March 19, then her body placed in a dumpster and incinerated.
(Emily Zoladz | Mlive.com)

Maze, 26, didn't want to leave the home she shared with Jahleel Hoskins, and Hoskins wasn't about to walk out the door either, Officer Ted Whalen testified on Wednesday, May 22.

A judge on Wednesday watched patrol car footage of the March 19 police response to 47 Burton St. SW during a probable cause hearing for Hoskins, who is charged with open murder and tampering with evidence in Maze's death. The hearing was adjourned to a later date to allow time for additional witness testimony.

Whalen was dispatched to the Burton Street home at 10:09 a.m. March 19 on a report of domestic troubles.

Maze told him she left the home between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. that day to visit a friend.

"When she came back, her clothes were in bags outside," Whalen said. "(Hoskins) wanted her to leave."

The recording shows Whalen telling Maze he could take her to a friend's house, or to a local shelter, if she needed a place to stay. She declined.

Hoskins, 25, said he would not leave the home he was renting.

As long as Maze's belongings were in the home, Whalen told the couple, Hoskins would need to go to court to evict her before police could legally take action.

But Maze, a mother of five, had reason to stay in the home despite conflict she faced, family members testified.

Relatives told the court of ongoing custody battles she had with her children. Though she had custody of a daughter, she had only visitation time with two other children living with their father in the Grand Rapids area.

In order to change that, she needed to have employment and a stable place to live, they said.

A cousin of Hoskins, Gregory Shanklin, testified that trouble between Maze and Hoskins came to a head this spring, after the couple had been together for about a year and a half.

Hoskins and Maze were at the Elk's Lodge on Linden Avenue on Feb. 18 when Hoskins saw Kenneth Harris, who fathered two of Maze's children. A conflict between Hoskins and Harris began, and Hoskins allegedly stabbed Harris in the early morning hours of Feb. 19.

In March, Maze threatened to contact police about Hoskins' involvement in the stabbing, Shanklin said. He told the court Wednesday of a conversation he had with Hoskins about two weeks after Maze was killed.

Hoskins told him she went into the bathroom of their home after mentioning the stabbing, which has since led to charges against the murder suspect.

"He was thinking about doing it ... killing her," Shanklin testified of his conversation with Hoskins.

Hoskins allegedly went on to say he choked Maze after she exited the bathroom and then wrapped her body in a sheet from her daughter's bedroom.

A Grand Rapids police detective played a few minutes of more than 100 hours of audio surveillance recorded from the Kent County Jail, where Hoskins has been lodged since his arrest for a parole violation in late April. The jail recording was done without Hoskins' knowledge, in order to monitor his conversations with other inmates.

"My people know the ins and outs of my alibi," Hoskins is heard saying in that recording. Police, he said, "ain't getting no confession."